Means for applying liquid



Sept- 1936- F. J. WILLIAMS ET AL 2,053,306

MEANS FOR APPLYING LIQUID Filed March 26, 1932 INVENTORS FEEVEE/CK J- WILL Mws l/flkMfi/V Han 027W M Mia/M 3W ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 8, 1936 UNITED STATES MEANS FOR APPLYING LIQUID Frederick J.

mon Howorth,

Williams, Bellaire, N. Y., and Har- Cumberland, Md., assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application March 26, 1932, Serial No. 601,352

Claims.

This invention relates to method of and means for applying liquid to yarns or threads and relates more particularly to the provision of means for applying a substantially constant amount of 5 such liquid.

. An object of. our invention is to supply substantially uniform amounts of modifying liquid to yarn or thread which is moving at different rates of speed. Other objects of this in- .vention will appear from the following detailed description. 1

When yarn is being wound on to a rotating cone, bobbin or other package mounted on a spindle that is rotating at uniform speed, as such package is built up, its diameter increases, and therefore the linear speed of the yarn progressively increases. When lubricants, dyes or other finishing liquids are applied to'such travelling yarn by means of .wicks or rollers, the

amount of liquid applied to a unit length of yarn is not constant, since such wicks or rollers furnish a constant amount of finishing liquid per unit time, and therefore when the diameter of the package is large and therefore the linear speed of the yarn is great, the amount of finishing liquid applied per unit length of yarn is much less than is the case when the diameter of the package is small. Because of this, the

yarn so treated does not have the same-physical properties throughout its length, with the result that fabrics formed therefrom do not have uniform appearance and do not knit uniformly.

We have'found method and means for applying substantially constant amounts of finishing liquid to yarns or threads that are being wound at an increasing linear speed.

In accordance with our invention, we apply substantially uniform amounts of a finishing'liq'-- uid to yarns, threads or filaments that are travelling' at an increasing rate by causing the same to move over a finishing liquid furnishing surface that increases with the rate of linear speed of the same. b

This invention is applicable to the treatment of yarns, threads, filaments, bristles, straw and other materials of substantially continuous length. These materials may be made of any suitable substancesuch as cotton, natural silk, wool, reconstituted cellulose, but this invention is particularly applicable to materials made of organic derivatives of cellulose such as organic esters of cellulose andcellulose ethers. Examples of organic esters of cellulose are cellulose acetate, cellulose formate, cellulose propionate and cellulose butyrate, while examples of cellulose ethers are ethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose.

The liquid furnishing means is conveniently in the form of a rotating cone, the lower portion of which is submerged in a bath of the 5 finish. When the yarn is travelling at a lower rate of speed, such as when the diameter of the rotating package upon which it is being wound is small, the yarn is caused to pass over a part of the smaller diameter of the cone, and as the 10 speed of the yarn increases, it is caused to pass I over portions of parts of progressively increasing diameters of the cone. This can be accomplished conveniently by causing the yarn to pass through guides in a device which is caused to move towards the larger-diameter of the cone. as the diameter of the yarn package increases.

The conical roller may be made of any suitable material, such as steel, but we have found that if its surface is made of steel or other metal, 20 the film of liquid tends to fall away into irregular patches, thus preventing even application of cork or the like. 30

Any suitable finishing or modifying liquid may J be applied. Thus the liquid may be a lubricant or finish, which for the treatment of cellulose acetate yarn, may contain polyhydric alcohols or their ethers, such as diethylene glycoL'glycol, 35

glycerine, mono ethyl ether of ethylene glycol and the like as described in the application of W. Whitehead No. 365,572, filed May 23, 1929. Such finish may contain in addition to the polyhydric alcohols or their ethers, an oil, such as 49 olive oil, castor oil, or other vegetable, animal or mineral lubricating oils, as described in the U. S. application of F. J. Williams and H. E. Martin No. 349,896, filed March 25, 1929. Further, for the treatment of cellulose acetate, such lu- 45 bricant or conditioning liquid may contain ethyl oxybutyrate or other relatively non-volatile solvents or restricted solvents of cellulose acetate which is readily removable by water with or without such polyhydric alcohols or ethers, as 50 The cone may be 25 stances having a modifying effect, such as sodium hydroxide or other alkalies for'causing the partialor complete saponification of cellulose acetate yarn. Sizes may be also applied by the present invention.

In order to illustrate our invention, but without being limited thereto, reference is had to the accompanying drawing showing one mode of carrying out our invention, wherein Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the device,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section along the line 2--2 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a vertical section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

a A trough I is provided containing a bath of finish, which may compromise an oil, softening agent, lubricant or other conditioning liquid, or it may be a solution of dye or other substance capable of effecting a color change, or any other desired modifying liquid. Over this trough I, there is mounted a conical roller 2 fixed on the rotatable shaft 3. This roller may be made of any of the materials above described.

A spanner 4 is mounted over the conical roller 2, and carries yarn guides 5 and 6 formed in or mounted on therespective arms thereof. One arm I of the spanner is fastened by'means of the lock screw 8 to the member 9 which is slidably mounted on any suitable support such as the side of the trough I. By this arrangement, the spanner 4 may be set at any suitable angle with respect to the axis of the cone 2, so that the yarn may be caused to pass at right angles tothe axis of the cone when a minimum amount of finish is to be applied, or at a progressively diminishing angle to the axis of the cone when larger amounts of finish are to be applied; The set screw 8 permits the spanner 4 to be fixed at any desired angle.

A bobbin III supplies the yarn A to be wound and treated. The yarn passes through the gate tensiondevice II, through the guide 5 on the spanner 4 over the cone 2 and through the other guide 6 on the spanner, to the winding device 12. This winding device is shown as a cone winder, but it may be a device for winding any package such for instance as a bobbin, whose diameter progressively increases as the yarn is wound thereon. The yarn A is led on to the package by means of a guide in an arm I3 of a lever pivoted at I 4, the other arm I5 of which carries a' weight I6, which causes the arm I3 to press against the periphery of the yarn package I'I. It-wil1 be seen that as the package I! is built up; the arm I5 is caused to move laterally.

. A rod I8 connects the arm I5 with the spanner support 9 and causes the spanner supported thereby to move laterally in the same manner as the arm I5 iscaused to move when the diameter of the yarn package I'I increases. In Fig. 1, the solid lines indicate the positions of the parts when the package is small, while the dotted lines indicate the position of the parts when the package is large, the position of the spanner being indicated as 4', the arm of the lever pressing on the periphery ll of the package being indicated as I3, the weight as I6, the lower end of the lever as I5 and the connecting rod as I8.

In operation, the yarn 'A is drawn from the supply bobbin 'IIl through the tension device II over the finish supplying rotating cone 2 between the guides 5 and 6 on the spanner l to the winding device I2. At the start when the package I! is small, the yarn A is causedto pass over the smaller end of the cone 2 and contacts with only a small portion of such cone, and in some cases makes but little more than tangential contact therewith. The angle of the spanner 4 to the axis of the cone 2 will be set by the set screw 8, depending on the type of yarn being treated, the nature of the conditioning liquid being applied and the type of result required As the package I! builds up, the arm I3 pressing against its periphery will cause the member I5 to move laterally which, through the connecting rod I8 and support 9, causes the spanner 4 to move the guides 5 and 6 progressively towards the end of the cone of larger diameter. This causes the yarn A to make contact with the cone 2 in progressively increasing arcs, and in this manner the increase of .linear speed of the yarn A due to the increase of size of the package I? is compensated by the greater surface of the furnishing cone 2 with which iteomes in contact. The slope of the cone 2 selected is such that the increase of length of contact of the yarn with the cone is proportional to the increase of the speed of trave of the yarn so that substantially even or uniform amounts of finish are supplied to the yarn throughout its length.

Although only one cone 2 and winding device I2 is shown, it is to be understood that a pluother products when-treated in accordance with our invention, have superior properties to similar products treated by prior methods. Thus for instance cellulose acetate yarns, when lubricated or conditioned by this invention, because of the uniformity of the application of lubricant or conditioning agent, have uniform knitting properties so that they may be closely knitted on circular or knitting machines with little or no difiiculties due to pin holes, distortions and the like, and require much less supervision during their knitting.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

' 1. In a device-for applying liquid to yarn, the combination of a winding device for the yarn forming a package of increasing size, a container for finishing liquid, a rotatable cone so mounted that the lower portion thereof is immersed in said finishing liquid, guides for the yarn adapted to move together so as to lead the yarn across the surface of the cone at right angles to the axis of the cone while on the way to the winding device, and means for moving the guides to cause the yarn to contact with greater surfaces of the cone as the size of the package increases.

2. In a device for applying liquid to yarn, the combination of a winding device for the yarn. forming a package of increasing size, a container for finishing liquid, a rotatable cone sd'mounted that the lower portion thereof is immersed in said finishing liquid and having a periphery of a relatively porous material, guides for the yarn adapted to move together so as to lead the yarn across the surface of the cone at right angles to the axis of the cone while on the way to the winding device, and means for moving the guides to cause the yarn to contact with greater surfaces of the cone as the size of the package increases.

3. In a, device for applg liquid to yarn. the combination of a winding device tor the Jam forming a package of increasing size, a container for finishing liquid, arotatabie cone so mounted that the lower portion thereof is immersed in said finishing liquid, guides for the yarn to cause the same to contact with the periphery of the cone while on the way to the winding device, and means for moving the guides towards the larger end of the cone as the size of the package increases.

4. In a device for applying liquid to yarn, the combination of a. winding device for the v forming a package of increasing size, a container for finishing liquid, a rotatable cone so mounted that the lower portion thereof is immersed in said finishing liquid, guides for the vain to cause the same to contact with the periphery of the cone while on the way to the winding device, and means pressing on the periphery of the pace lever having one arm adapted to move a: I oi the cone.

5. A device for apps liquid to'yarn, the

combination of a and forming a package or increasing diameter, a trough for liquid, a rotatable cone mounted over said trough and having the lower portion thereof dipping in the liquid, a device spanning said cone and slidably mounted in the direction of the axis of said cone, yam guides carried by said M; ng device on each side of the cone, in, thereof pressing against the yarn package, and a rod connecting the other end of the lever and the spanning device carrying the yarn guides, whereby the spanning device is moved towards the larger end of the cone as the aim of the package increases.

winding device for the yarn 

